Battle Metal Heaven
To keep it succinct, Kiuas play Battle Metal of sorts. And play it damn well. Lets face it, if you were from Finland, why not write songs about the past, Gods, myths and legends. Much better that the three modern day Finn topics of Spruce trees, paper mills, and lakes. Oh and mobile phones. Doesn’t have the same ring does it (no pun intended)
Playing the Little Civic (a name very well explanatory). Think of a small pub near you. Now think of a smaller upstairs to that pub. Put a stage at one end (next to the bogs) and thats the Little Civic. Not enough room to swing a kitten.
Great intro, the band stepped up to the stage, most half naked (thankfully the top half) Unfortunately a few bars into the opening song ‘The Decaying Doctrine’, Mikko Salovaara’s amp packed it in but the rest carried on regardless and it was still loud and cool! Fast, furious, loud and unbelievably melodic. Excellent!
An intimate gig as you’re ever likely to get, Kiuas excelled, abeit in a pretty tight space. When singer Ilja kankinen whipped his head to the music, the first three rows got beaten in the process. The sound wasn’t perfect but the enthusiasm more than made up for this. The band ploughed through future classics, ‘Of sacrifice and Reward’, ‘Warrior Soul’, ‘Of Ancient Wounds’ and ‘The Spirit of Ukko’. There’s one more song in there, I didn’t catch the title of, and typically was the best song of the night. Kiuas deserve a bigger audience, and a bigger venue. A wise man once said that keyboards and metal don’t go together, he was never so wrong!
To top it all off I learnt a new phrase to say to my Finnish colleagues in work for when I want to hand in my notice. I cant possibly repeat it here! Or anywhere. Thanks Ilja!